Swimming Pool Repurposed for Underground Rainwater Collection

underground tanks former swimming pool7,200 gallons of collected rainwater for household usage has no visual impact for this newly constructed Bellevue home. The homeowner wanted to have a rainwater catchment system to provide water for the toilet and laundry facility, but he did not want large, above ground water tanks interfering with the landscaping of his backyard.

Residential Underground Rainwater Collection Tank-AfterThe solution: excavating the old cement swimming pool and placing four 1800 gallon poly water tanks in its place, creating an underground rainwater collection system.  All the tanks are connected with a manifold for equalization and supply a pressure tank and filtration in the mechanical room for usage. Solenoid valves provide automatic switching from rainwater to city water if the tanks should run low, but will switch back to rainwater when the tanks receive more water from the roof.

Gutter screens were installed, along with a vortex filter, which will eliminate debris from entering the storage tanks. In the mechanical room, a sediment filter will remove fine sediment, followed by a carbon filter to eliminate color and odor.

With auto switching, the homeowner will never know the difference (other than his reduced water bill) and he finds the underground rainwater collection system aesthetically appealing.

Ken Blair
A rainwater collection systems designer and consultant, Ken has designed and installed residential and commercial systems, primarily in the northwest United States for more than 10 years and, in 2014, began consulting and managing builds in other states. Ken is an accredited ARCSA Professional Designer / Installer and Life Member, the Northwest Regional ARCSA representative and advisor to its education committee and is available to speak about Rainwater Collection Systems design and builds.

Ken is a United States Navy veteran, having served on active duty during the Vietnam War era.

A career entrepreneur, Ken created a new business focus with a commercial dive company in Hawaii in the mid 1980′s to respond to and clean up oil spills, oil spill equipment training, service and maintenance for the oil co-op service industry. Ken is passionate about having a positive impact on the environment and is also a founding director of BANK-ON-RAIN (2011-2014), whose mission is to create grassroots solutions for rainwater collection for consumption and agriculture in developing areas of the planet.